


Acacia, Azalea

by PhoenixandMuser



Series: Gardenia [1]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, POV First Person, Ray deserves a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 10:46:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12188505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixandMuser/pseuds/PhoenixandMuser
Summary: Ray is found on the brink of death in the ruins of Magenta. He struggles to decide whether he is in heaven, hell, or somewhere in between.





	Acacia, Azalea

This sensation of regaining consciousness was completely unlike that of waking up. It was a feeling of realisation - realising that I was awake, without recalling the fact that I was ever unconscious in the first place. I couldn't remember when the pale light of my surroundings began to filter through closed eyelids, but I noticed it now.

I tried to feign ignorance towards my own memories of those last moments, but nothing could stand against that flood. The unbridled pain of failure and defeat, being forced to accept that last and worst rejection, the deafening noise, and the blistering heat. Not even the ringing in my ears could block that out.

I cringed and cowered, trying to hide my face from that white light still waiting to pierce my eyes.

It was a small noise that grounded me. Something soft and quiet, that I barely caught, but it was enough.  
I felt pain, a searing sting of flames and rubble striking my skin, but above that, I felt a far gentler heat. A warmth that intertwined with my fingers and caressed the back of my hand, that reminded me of clasping her small hand in mine, and that made me close my eyes tighter to hide against any reality which would have me separated from her.

I was holding a thread which, if I pulled too hard trying to see where it led, would unravel and leave me in tatters.

I had nowhere to go, and accepted my ending. However, if purgatory would only ever be me holding her hand while the rest of my body suffered endless pain, I would endure it. More than that, I would welcome and cherish it. This pain paled in comparison everything that came before it.

My breath halted and my body tensed before I was even aware of it. I could hear that voice, a clear, sweet chime in the breeze that would clear my aching head.

"I think he's awake. Ray? Can you hear me?"

I longed to respond, however I wasn't truly certain that I was in control of my body. It felt as if I was only a spectator, trapped in a soon to be written off vessel. Everything that happened would continue to happen, and I could only be a recipient, not an influencer.

She calls me again, but before I decided if I was even capable of answering, another voice rises from elsewhere.  
This voice is deep and guarded, male, and wholly unwelcome to me. I forgot to pay attention to the words while I reviled the sound.

Was this yet another round of torture? Was I to lose her again? Was this not purgatory, but a hellish cycle of being betrayed and abandoned over and over? Was there any plane of existence where the RFA wouldn't be there to sway her with lies and steal her away from me?

When she spoke again, the abstract concept of souls suddenly became more tangible to me. I knew she could feel what I felt. She gave a voice to my heart, and asked for what I was unable to speak up about.

"Please, keep the others away for now."

  
A door clicked shut.

My ears still rang, but beneath that, there was silence.

"It's just us now, Ray. You're awake, aren't you?"

Those words sounded so sweet. It wasn't even my real name, but the tenderness in her whispers soothed my mind more than ever before. Nothimg else was worth thinking about - I was alone again with her.

I had no sense of time, but it felt like hours that I lay there silently, her hand in mine.

The thought crossed my mind that I should open my eyes, and find out what was happening. At the very least, I should assess what I was aware of around me. But if I opened my eyes to find her absent, to realise she was nothing but a figment of imagination… If I stirred from this rest only to feel the warmth of her hand fade, it would have been more than I could cope with. If it was just an illusion, would I be able to escape this second hell? This time, there would be no salvation.

"I feel like I've been here a lot recently. I could never have known agreeing to test a game would lead me here."

I heard her sigh, and was struck with panic. Was she stressed? Regretful? Had I troubled her too much? I pressed my eyes shut tighter. I thought this being a dream was the worst that I could wake up to, but waking up to her being upset and wishing to get away from me in reality was decidedly worse.

I didn't understand. She still spoke of the game, so were we in Magenta? I took a deep breath and caught a faint smell of flowers. Had she nursed me in the room I prepared for her? How could that be after the destruction of Magenta?

Tears threatened at the corners of my eyes when she pulled her hand from mine. When I felt a silky warmth brush over my face, I startled. She gently swept my hair back from my face as she called me once more.

It felt cruel to hide any longer, to refuse to look at my princess after all I had put her through.

The bright sunlight was too harsh at first, and my eyes took far too long to focus. Eventually, I could see. I lay in a white room, between plain, thin sheets. To my right was a window, and to my left…

She was watching me closely, her eyes flicking back and forth as she searched for answers to questions she had yet to ask me.

All chance of paradise in Magenta had been shattered. I knew nothing of what had become of our saviour. All those promises felt hollow, bizarre, and inexplicably sinister. No part of me ached to return, and I felt a pure lack of loyalty to the Mint Eye. But now, I wonder if there is a paradise for us only. Just in this room, hand in hand, and everyone else is kept away.

"Ray… what did you do?"

Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes closed. It seemed she didn't truly need an answer to her question.

I'd never been to a place like this. I appeared to be connected to strange machines, with something being fed into my veins. Elixir? Nothing was ready when I last recalled. On a bedside table sat a vase filled with large orange roses not unlike the ones I tended to before.

"You're in hospital, Ray. That strange building blew up with you inside." She shakes her head and moves closer. "I can't believe you survived that... even in your condition, you're still here."

She took my hand in one of hers, and trailed the other over my arm. I followed its path with my eyes. Instead of my own skin, I saw bandages. The thought of her earnestly tending to my wounds brought a guilty smile to my lips.

"Have you been taking care of me, my princess?"

She didn't return my smile.

My eyes began to sting, and on instinct, I whipped my head around to avoid her gaze. I had upset her, disappointed her to the point where she wouldn't even offer that sympathetic smile to me.

She spoke cautiously, in a low and steady voice, asking for my trust, and hoping I would not lash out upon hearing what she had to ask of me.  
Although I still looked away, I nodded. Perhaps all faith she had in me would not be lost if I could handle this.

"Mint Eye is finished, and Rika will not be coming back. Her ideals were wrong and inhumane, and the salvation you were promised was a lie… but that's a good thing. Ray?"

I turned to look at her again, and she clasped my hand in both of hers.

"I-it's good, because you have a chance to be happy for real. Rika drugged and brainwashed you, and lied about everything. V, and Seven too…"

My lip curled in response to their names.

"All of the RFA, they're not bad people. I want you to try and get over everything you thought of them before, because… If you can do that… we could stay together, we'd help you adjust, and you could be happy for once."

I found myself shaking my head already, causing her to sigh. She looked tired.

"Please think more about it. I want to stay with you, if Mint Eye is out of the equation. But it won't truly be gone, if you're still harbouring those feelings. If you keep acting like an enemy to the RFA, even when Seven would have helped you into a job to get you out of there…"

"He wouldn't have done anything for me… this is his fault…" I muttered, and closed my eyes. My head started to ache.

"What went on between you two?"

I opened my eyes briefly and smiled at her. I closed my eyes without answering. It was, I decided, too big a revelation to burden her with.

She seemed to accept that, and was quiet for a while. I felt more confident that her presence was not just a remnant of dream, and allowed myself to relax a little further.

"Ray?"

I hummed in response.

"What happened to your eyes?"

"What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing, they're just a different colour now."

I smiled wryly "Don't worry."

"Hmm. Ray?"

I wonder if my real name would sound as sweet in her voice. "Yes, princess?"

"Is that your real hair color?"

I thought for a moment. "Yes and no. It started going white in places, so I bleached it."

After a few seconds, I felt a hand running gently through my hair. It snagged on a few tangles, prompting a dissatisfied huff from her lips. I heard her cross the room, followed by some rustling, and then her return.

Realising what she was doing, I laughed and opened my eyes. I sat up a little to allow her to brush my hair for me, and hoped that in future, I would be the one doing this for her.

Later, I asked her who I heard in the room with her before, where were V, and Rika? Where was the redhead? Did they know that she was here alone with me?

She shared all she knew with me, eager to put my mind at ease. The CEO had visited, and would pay for the medical bills out of a sense of remorse from their efforts to destroy the Mint Eye. He had made the rest of the RFA aware that she was with me. Consequently, "Seven" expressed an interest in visiting me once she reported that I was in better health. V had left on his own, after recovering, and Rika had been taken away but no one knew where.

I took in all the information, and thanked her. Wordlessly, I beckoned her to sit on the edge of my bed. I held her hand to my chest, and reclined against the pillows. At peace, I gazed out of the window and watched the wispy white clouds glide across the sky. One day, we would be able to walk along together, free under that bright sky.

**Author's Note:**

> Acacia - elegance, secret love  
> Azalea - please take care, developing passion


End file.
